Jeep Wrangler Wheel Wobble

Has anyone ever experienced an uncontrollable wheel wobble after they have hit a pot hole while driving on the highway at a high rate of speed and had to pull over and stop to gain control of the vehicle?

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I have a 97 Wrangler and it only has 10K miles. Recently it drives fine up to around 45-50mph when it goes into a crazy shaking sensation that feels like one of the engine mounts has snapped (it hasn't since I had it checked). Not sure what this is and once it starts the engine decelerates until I downshift to 3rd and it can then climb back to 45 or so. Any ideas??

hey I own a 07 4 door jeep wrangler, I have not got a wobble, but an earthquake in my vehicle. wheels shake, steering wheel vibrates purfusely, vehicles front end hops off the ground and the vehicle shimmeys off the road while doing all of these things. has been brought back to dealer 10 times but they wont admit there is a problem with the vehicle. It never happens when they test drive the jeep, sooo made a video of what happens and they still wont do anything. this past week i took it to another dealer and they changed the steering damper and say its fixed. I pick it up tomorrow we will see but if you saw what happens to this jeep you would be shocked. Good luck to all who have a jeep im getting rid of this vehicle soon as I can.

ok, i have read the threads on this website, and not sure it that (wobble) is what my problem is..I have a 99 jeep wrangler and have had it for almost 6yrs, never had any problems..now i have put smaller tires, went from 32 to 31. and it drove nice for about a week..started with just a little small shimmer.,,well low and behold lost reardriveshaft on interstate,,since then replaced that and now got one heck of a shake...does not wait till i hit 45mph. but as soon as i start moving,,by the time im in 3rd gear, anything on dash is on floor..have replaced driveshaft,universals had tires balanced again, and it acts like it has no get up and go..any suggestions as to where i start at trying to fix this problem.. and when i took it to have them check it, was told tierods look good..

If as you say, the only item that was changed before the vibration started was the rear propeller shaft, then that's the best place to start looking for a solution.(Hopefully, although it wouldn't be connected to the vibration, there was no damage to the brake or fuel lines when the propshaft was thrashing around?)

On the face of it, it sounds like you either have an unbalanced propshaft, or the 'U' joints are out of phase.It's also possible that when the old shaft failed the rubber transmission mount was damaged, or that there was even damage to the transfer case output shaft or it's housing.

There's no reason to suspect wheel balance or steering/suspension wear should have suddenly appeared.

Before driveshaft feel out, there was a little shake, but not bad enough for me to worry,,Changed steering stabalizer today, no difference.,, guess i need to start with the rearend.and work from there. How would you know if transfer case was damaged.

.,, guess i need to start with the rearend.and work from there. How would you know if transfer case was damaged.

It's likely that the boot where the rear propshaft enters the transfer case would be leaking oil. You should also remove the propshaft so that you can watch the splined output shaft in the transfer case rotate; it should be perfectly centered and turn without any wobble or deviation.

While the propshaft is out take a look at the yoke on the rear axle to see if there's any play there as well.

What was the cause of the propshaft failure, a seized 'U' joint or was it something else?

hello there !!!! i have a 2007 jeep wrangler x with exactly what everone is describing!!!!!.....so far i ve replaced the steering stabilizer (rancho).....tires rotated and balanced....pro comp shocks all around.....pro comp trac bar...upper and lower ball joints on left side and i still have it.....so yea i m ready to cry....lol...dont really wanna get rid of it too much invested but then again dont know that i really wanna keep it!!!!!! when it happens unexpectedly its tooooooo scary

ok well just an update here....so i put my jeep in 4wd and it sounded like the whole front end was gonna fall off when i turned the wheels...yea i could only go a foot or two and then i feel some resistance...so stopping at the garage tom right away...and i hoping this is a 2 for one deal and fixes the dw too.....i just cant figure out why in 2wd it seems fine except for the wobble

Before you sell your Wrangler, consider this. The problem may not be the suspension at all. Tires on newer vehicles, Jeeps are no exception, have been bubble balanced at the factory so if you drive a new one the wheels will be balanced-sort of. But bubble balancing won't do as the tires begin to wear after 2K to 3K. The tires need to be balanced on a friction surface (what Goodyear calls ground force) to be properly balanced. If not then the tires will begin to wear irregularly with flat spots and uneven areas and the car will feel like the front end is bouncing and it is.

Once tires have started this, nothing can be done to correct the problem with them. Even friction balancing won't help.

It is very important to have new tires friction balanced from the get go. If they are they will develop good wear patterns. Re-balancing about every 8k will keep them that way. I have been there.

On my 2006 Grand Cherokee, I got 60k on the the original tires-never a problem. It now has 70K and the original brakes and still have at least 40k left on them. What does brake wear have to do with properly balanced tires? Well a whole lot. Vibration from tires out of balance damages the front end and brake components.

My 2007 Wrangler Unlimited has 30K and no problems with vibration what so ever and don't expect any. I had the tires friction balanced after I picked it up new and have had it re-balanced 4 times.

This deal is one the of the Occam's Razor examples. Find the least complex answer. Put a new set of tires on the vehicle and have them friction balanced. The worst that can happen is that a prospective buyer will see new tires.

Many people suggest complicated answers for simple problems. I don't know if they are trying to seem intelligent or they just have a love of complexity. But any event, follow and simple logical step by step approach. Don't assume the tires are properly balanced-make sure.

A steering damper should last for years so if it has not, something has damaged it-like tires not properly balanced. Front suspensions are incredibly durable, as are drive trains and rear ends. Look for a simple basic reason and more than likely, that's what it is.

Tires on newer vehicles, Jeeps are no exception, have been bubble balanced at the factory so if you drive a new one the wheels will be balanced-sort of.

This is just not true. Bubble balancing hasn't been used by vehicle manufacturers since the beginning of the4 last century. All wheels/tires are dynamically by every vehicle manufacturer these days.

The latest development to the balancer is the Hunter GSP9700 Roadforce machine. This has nothing to do with Goodyear and is a trademark registered to Hunter. This machine performs many functions including balancing the wheel under load as though it was being driven on the road. It also measures any side to side runout of the tread, and can independently measure the imbalance of the rim and the tire, allowing the the tire to be positioned at the best possible location on the rim so that little or no weight will be needed to complete the balance. You can read all about it and find one near you here: Hunter Roadforce(I have no connection with Hunter.)

My 2007 Wrangler Unlimited has 30K and no problems with vibration what so ever and don't expect any. I had the tires friction balanced after I picked it up new and have had it re-balanced 4 times........................... ............................Many people suggest complicated answers for simple problems. I don't know if they are trying to seem intelligent or they just have a love of complexity.

That's a rather supercilious attitude, and it's false logic to assume that because you have your wheels Roadforce balanced and have suffered no 'death wobble' symptoms, that the solution for anyone that does is to have their wheels balanced the same way and their problem will be solved.This is problem that Jeep engineers have been working on for several years and I somehow doubt that they're prolonging the issue just to seem intelligent. :surprise:

A steering damper should last for years so if it has not, something has damaged it-like tires not properly balanced.

Yes they should, and as far as I'm aware there has been no issue with steering damper failure. The problem is that the design of the JK front suspension is such that it can sometimes be tipped into an uncontrollable progressive cyclic oscillation of the front wheels.Maybe on occasion it's triggered by imbalanced wheels, maybe by an out of tolerance wheel bearing, perhaps by a worn suspension joint.The current fix is a redesigned steering damper which, rather like a Band-Aid over a bullet wound, masks rather than cures the problem.

Anyone out there that has been having the "death wobble" issue and are POSITIVE it is not something with the wheel mounting and balancing or the alignment and it is an honest to god mechanical issue where the entire front end of the Jeep shakes violently and uncontrollably and you have to come close to or a complete stop to be able to regain control of your Jeep then I MIGHT be able to help. I have a 2007 Wrangler with 56k miles and it is stock and I just got Chrysler to pay for the fixes needed to correct the "death wobble". It wasnt something that I had to pay for in advance and wait 12 weeks for a check that they paid for some of the charges, I called on Friday to Chrysler made an appointment at the service dept. for today and Chrysler called and took care of the charges....all of them. This ABSOLUTELY IS a problem that those at Chrysler are aware of all I had to do was mention a front end shaking and they mentioned the dreaded death wobble. It is actually an unfortunate thing that they are so aware of the problem because it has just opened them up for a huge class action lawsuit for allowing such a serious and deadly problem to go unfixed and kept swept under the rug. I was told to not give out the phone number on any public fourms actually but I would assume its a public number and it would not be right to have fellow Jeep owners to pay for this out of pocket when there is a chance that Chrysler will pay for it all for you. The number is 1-877-426-5337 after you talk to the inital customer service person they assign a case worker which they say will call back within 24 hours but my case worker called me back in about 2 and a half hours. They were all very kind and easy to work with and actually wanted to fix the problems so if you are having this trouble still give them a call and maybe you can get your death wobble issues fixed for free also.....best of luck and happy Jeeping

Nobody is messing with my vehicle unless I know what they are doing. PERIOD. I did that with my BMW's. I do that with my Avalanche and my Audi. And I do it with my TJ. They WILL explain to me what is being replaced and why it is a problem before they touch it. Any mechanic (dealer included) knows this before I let them take my vehicle.

Thanks Vikings0101!!!!...I have a 2006 jeep wrangler that I bought 6 months ago. I purchased the vehicle from a Chrysler Jeep dealer. The fully stock vehicle had 25,577 miles on it. The " DW " symptoms started happening about two months ago. Very frustrating. Can't drive it on the highway. More frustrating is researching the problem. No one really knows what the real problem is. I called the dealer where I bought the jeep, and he told me ( over the phone ) that the problem was the " stabilizer shock " . He told me to change it myself, that it would be cheaper. From what I have read on the internet, I know that changing the steering stabilizer shock only masks the problem. I call the number you gave ( 1-800-426-5337 ) and they have been very helpful. The lady on the phone told me to take it in and get it diagnosed. Verbally, she told me that if I have not altered or abused my jeep, they would pay for cost. I took my jeep in today and they did a diagnostic test. They told me that the tires are the wrong tires for the jeep. They said they are to soft, and that they need to be replaced. THEY TOLD ME THIS WAS THE REASON WHY I WAS EXPERIENCING " DEATH WOBBLE ". They told me I have to take the wrangler back to the other jeep dealer to deal with them..I think they are full of ****..I called the 1-800 number to talk with my case manager. She was not in, but her assistant was. He didn't like what they concluded or what they told me. My case manager will call me tomorrow he stated. I will update tomorrow.

I drive an '06 Wrangler X, 2" coil spring spacer lift and 32" BFG A/T tires. I first got the wobble during the 3-day window after getting the lift and before getting the new tires - it would happen only in the 42-45mph range. After I got the new tires, it quit for a year or so, but then every so often would creep back in until I'd get the tires rotated. Always would happen only in the 42-45mph range; speeding up or slowing down would stop it. Those times, I believe it was a minor alignment issue that was fixed by rotating the tires. Finally around 50K miles it got super bad, like the whole Jeep (and me in it) was trying to shake apart, and making a loud drumming noise, and I had to come to an almost complete stop to make it quit. Rotating the tires did nothing to fix it that time. Took her in to an alignment shop / service station down the road to get checked out, and they concluded it was the track bar - and as luck would have it, they had a new one in stock that they'd ordered for another Jeep that was staying overnight for the same exact problem - and we combined that with an alignment and they had me fixed up and out the door in about an hour. That was about 10K miles ago and she's been running like new ever since! :shades: The mechanic stated that track bars in Wranglers tend to only last about 50K miles, though some are guaranteed for the life of the vehicle so you'll get free replacement when it goes bad again.

Hey. I have the opportunity to buy a very low mileage (less than 20k) 2006 Wrangler X. It is in excellent condition with no modifications. The owner has never experienced the death wobble, however, after reading all of the articles, I'm a bit concerned. Has Chrysler/Jeep accepted responsibility for the problem? Do they know what the problem is? Are they willing to fix it? Is it worth buying a 2006 jeep? Any info you have would be appreciated!

I bought my 2005 Wrangler X brand new. I experienced the Death Wobbled at around 60,000 miles. I have gone through 2 sets of tires. Everytime I replaced my tires it would go away for a little while then come back. It seems to me that this problem is an accumulation of problems, due to the fact that what ever the initial problem may be it causes other parts to go bad. I started out by replacing the steering damper - it went away then came back. Then I changed the track bar - it went away then came back. I have since replaced: all tire rod ends, wheel hub assembly on both sides, upper and lower ball joints on the driver side, both axle u-joints and my tires for a 3rd time. Any one of these parts can cause a death wobble when bad, including the steering gear box, although right now mine seems ok. Good luck to all who experience the death wobble. I love my jeep and will never trade it - Jeep For Life. But the death wobble sucks and can be very costly. The only tip I can offer is that in my experience mechanic shops are out to replace as many parts as possible, it is much cheaper to learn how to do this work your self. The only thing I do not do is the tire mounting and balancing and it has saved me a ton of money over the years.

Same problem, with an 2008. Spoke with a friend of a friend works for Chrysler. VP in Jeep. Asked to remain nameless. He was told to never speak of this issue again, in the building at Chrysler. Any research he did for me was met with great resistance.Spoke to Annette at Chrysler I Don't Care Line, about the issue after speaking with several other peoples voice mail. They graciously will afford to give me some of the thirty dollar a day rental fees. They will reduce it because the rented vehicle was not a chrysler product. Other than that at 76,000 miles they dont care about the $884.00 bill that I am stuck with. Not to mention the $400.00 rental charges. They have had the Jeep since June 10, 2011, today is June 23, 2011.Let me know if you hear any other good news on this, lawsuit, recall anything, I can use after taking it like this. GO JEEP, NOT!!!! :mad:

Sean, ScreaminLizard, for strongly urging me to take the wrangler to the dealer.Thanks to Rusty and Tami, Grapevine Jeep, for a sit down with Sean and respecting his knowledge.Sean tried to enlighten another dealership and was given the cold shoulder.

Front end was loose at 20K miles and was tired of bfg mt's. Then bought duratracs and a bill stine stabilizer. The stabilizer smoothed out the front but kept getting loosey goosey. Took it to GV Jeep for the new stabilizer and bracket at a few k miles under 50K miles. Smoother again. Then at 50k miles the front end went south and finally it felt like the tires lost all of their weights. Using all the horses available on I-35 got it home and talked to Sean. He said it is well known the drag link ends and tie rod ends don't last but that ball joints have been lasting 76K miles.

Got the rubicon back today with a new drag link and new tie rod. Never been off road, just errands and need to travel I-35 all the time.

Just got a chance to read "Willie's Workbench" in the December issue of Four Wheeler.

Stabilizer or Damper, I want a follow-up to the last sentence. How long did it really last.

Brand new the front end felt like a monoblock of steel. Guessing after 10k miles it started feeling loose but how can you tell. It's like shocks, a gradual decline like the frog in a cold pot of water over the fire.

Thinking of removing the paid-for new factory stabilizer that replaced the bil stine that replaced the original tokico that I threw away. Thinking of putting the bil stine back on. Have had people ask me about their front ends and mine. Some know me and some in other states see the screaminlizard and tribe decals.

Have the lifetime $50 deductible warranty(maybe that's why Sean sent me back to the dealer when I was mad enough to drink from the cup of dexcool and get on with my remaining years).

I do spend multiples of less time with this wrangler than with that rubber timing belted foreign diesel of a crd liberty. Like I posted a very long time ago, just a few more dollars up front to build quality vs wear the customer down with fixes until they trade it in or empty their pockets with aftermarket. Same darn love hate affair as the crd but the jk does have a frame and better aftermarket replacement parts to build it as it should've been built.

I've had front dif grease puke twice and also leak out from that cheap pressed in pin that the breather tube attaches to. Forgot to lube the door gasket and a few drips got better_half damp. Tranny cooler (now mopar has one) and wrapped crossover tube to keep fluid cool. Tranny leak fixed by local dealer (and not the fancy other side of metroplex dealer). Headlights are just good enough. Plastic clips on the ebrake and transfer cables. Smaller lighter tires than factory rubicon and haven't sleeved the axle tubes or welded on gussets. We all know the routine. But jeep wrangler means real jeep and even if it rusts away its' driveline should be able to take you to hell and back. Sitting on the edge, looking at aftermarket prices, to be or not to be...

Took time last night to read another mag that came in a while back-Jp (Nov. 2011).Inside was the statement of circulation-should've renewed all my sourcelink subscriptions.Page 91 "Unfortunately, I sold that CJ-6 years ago..."

A relative, upon seeing the rubicon a while back for the first time from a distance, thought it was better_half's H3. Both are blue and have the seven grill slots. He lamented the fact that the jeep he had years ago and sold, is still being driven (now by someone else).

I was once told to keep my first real jeep. I do wish necessity would have let me keep some of my old new to me back then detroit iron. Of course, driving around town today doing errands with the freedom top on but the windows down not speeding anywhere just enjoying the moment might have been the finishing touch.

I am having the same problem, changed the shocks, the stabilizer, put tires on it, rotated and balanced them and still the "Death Wobble". I am also willing to record it and send to a local news if they don't do anything to help me. I have a 2007 jeep wrangler unlimited and it has been doing it the last 2 years. I have almost got into many accidents and can kill myself or anyone else out there. I think that they are waiting for some car pile up or for someone to die. Seriously, this car problem should be a recall. It is horrible. I want in if anyone wants to sue them or go public, thanks vikki

If anyone out there is having death wobble or really bad shaking in the front near the the wheels that feels like your tires are out of control or going to fall out, please report a complaint to the NHTSA, "national highway traffic safety association at (888)327-4236 so that they can be aware of this dangerous problem. What are they waiting for a death to occur to actually make the problem on the car a recall. Sad at it seems, must complain, they put you on a list so when it actually becomes a recall you will get contacted and the NHTSA actually contacts the manufacture and lets them know the problem. Enough of these calls someone might start listening it take 10 minutes only. If you been like the lots of other people and myself that has bought tires, rotated tires, changed the shocks, changed the stabilizer trying to fix the problem, then call jeep manufacture at 1(877)426-5337 and let them know that the front is shaking, and your having the death wobble. I called jeep yesterday and they gave me no answers, today I called got a someone that discussed expired warranty and somehow my phone disconnected. I called back 5 minutes later, new lady better attitude that got me on a case file and waiting for a return call back within 24 hours. If anyone out there has the next step to this problem or has a class action law suit going on, email me: [email protected]

Yes I have its horrible. I have put new tires, changed shocks, changed stabilizer, rotated and balanced car and the problems is so bad that I am unable to drive my car. lets exchange info so jeep does not play games that they have no idea what is going on. email: [email protected]File a complaint with the NHTSA at 1(888)327-4236, then call the jeep manufacture and hang up if they don't help you, call back new customer service until they give you a case number. I hear from another person it is there responsibility and they should diagnose and fix at no charge. I am still waiting for a call back. Just called them, they have 24 hour to call back. Also, i am not afraid to get an attorney or go public. Give me your input, two is better than one. Try to get others info, so am I thanks vikki